One word that could be used to describe Joe Dennis is passionate … especially about his musical tastes.
“If you don’t like Kesha you can leave,” Dennis said to a group of high school students attending the Summer Media Academy at the University of Georgia.
In an interview with the students, it became clear that Joe is passionate about a multitude of things. From Kesha to fedoras to the White Sox, Joe has many passions. But one of his core passions is journalism.
On the surface, Joe Dennis is a talented journalist and professor who is currently the chair of the mass communications department at Piedmont University. However, diving deeper, a particular point of interest for Joe is his collection of fedoras. While it may seem silly, his fedora collection actually reflects a piece of cultural identity as a half Filipino. “‘I needed something that defined me,” he said, recalling how became a fedora wearer. “I was walking around the streets of New York City when I saw a woman selling fedoras. Bruno Mars was popular around then, and he rocks the fedora. And he’s Filipino. I thought, That’s it! I’m going to wear a fedora.’”
Although he is comfortable in his career and identity now, he felt challenged when starting out his career. As a budding journalist, he found it difficult to recognize that there was a business end in the field. His first journalism job was at The Walton Tribune in Monroe, Georgia which is a small publication that relies on the community it covers. The people that he would cover — the community leaders and politicians — also often advertised for the paper. Therefore, Joe found it difficult to understand how to balance creating compelling stories while respecting the advertisers.
Despite this, he says that he wouldn’t do anything different. He believes that he is exactly where he is supposed to be. When asked if he would change anything about his life he simply replied,
“Nothing. I really think that everything that’s happened has happened for a reason.”
Rock Star Writers Blog 